Chapter 20
It had taken a whole 20 minutes to calm Zane down from a rather confusing panic attack, he had gripped onto Chazz arm so tight, Jaden and Syrus was worried, as soon as they heard Claudia's name come out of the 3rd year students mouth, fear struck their hearts. Alexis had to hold Zane's head to her stomach, he was rather disorientated, that was until they heard an air chopper fly over their heads rather fast, "Wait..isn't that a medical chopper?" Asked Syrus. Instantly, Zane jumped up "Claudia's in there I know it…"
With that the 5 GX Students rushed off to the duel academy, since Claudia was the only one who knew how to drive they had to run on foot.
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Down in the medical wing of Duel academy, a woman in her 50's was running about, collecting IV fluids and blood bags, once the patient had been wheeled in, the teenager was slightly pale holding onto where her collarbone was with one hand, and the other was held onto her right leg.
Sweat and hair was clinging to the teenagers the woman rushed over to the teenager, "Claudia sweetie! I got here as soon as I could, you're going to be just fine ok?" the teenager nodded as she tried to lean back but pain shot through her shoulder "Gah….Fracking hell! Vanessa why are you here?"
The older woman just gave her a soft smile, "As soon as Artie told me that you'd been injured on your mission with Steve I had to be the one to come and fix you up," She took out a pair of large cutters, "Whoa wait a minute lady! You're not going to do what I think you're doing…" "They have to come off Claudia… and with your shoulder and leg injured I can't just slide your clothing off…. " with that Claudia cried fake tears as the woman cut into her favourite black skinny jeans and Led Zepplin t-shirt, once Claudia's t-shirt had come off the door slammed open to see the blue haired teenager right there.
His eye's wide, panting rather heavy he rushed over not even caring if Claudia was topless, "What the hell happened! It was supposed to be a simple mission!" he looked Claudia's shoulder over where blood was seeping out of what looked like a gunshot wound. Vanessa placed a hand on the boy's chest, "Sorry no one can be in here right now I need to treat her wounds before they get worse."
"What do you mean I can't be in here! That's my god damn girlfriend laying right in that bed!" he tried to push past the woman, and noticed something on claudia's bare chest, his eye's widened it was the same tattoo that Steve held on his chest, "Vanessa let him stay please… this is going to hurt like a bitch when you remove the bullets, so I'd rather have him here." Spoke the 19 year old teenager, Vanessa sighed stepping to the side to allow the boy to pass, he instantly took Claudia's hand. "What happened?"
Claudia sighed looking up to the boy, "It was meant to be a simple mission, dude got scared and pulled a gun out on us, they was trying to use an artefact to rob a bank…"
She bit her bottom lip, "I couldn't allow him to get shot, not where the bullets was going to hit so I jumped pushing him out of the way, causing one to the shoulder and one to the leg." Zane gritted his teeth, his girlfriend could have died and he had stayed behind at the school safe while she had been in danger. "I'm not allowing you to go out on another mission again without me."
Claudia smiled, "That's fine… i-OW! That FRacking hurts Vanessa!" she squeezed Zane's hand throwing her head back as Vanessa got the bullet out of her shoulder. "Sorry sweetie, but I can't leave them in there."
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Outside in the infirmary waiting room, they could hear Claudia's screams but didn't exactly know what was wrong, all they saw was Steve, most of his clothing covered in blood and they assumed the worse, Zane had seen it, so he rushed straight into the infirmary not caring.
Alexis saw the guilt look in Steve's face so she walked up to him placing a hand on his shoulder, "Are you ok?" taking a deep shaky breath he nodded slightly, "Yeah… she…protected me and I couldn't do a damn thing about it. I always told her she was exactly like my big sister… and she just keeps proving that more and more." He sat down on the chair, head in his hands. "she's going to be fine Steve, Claudia's a strong girl what ever happened I'm sure she doesn't blame you."
He shot up from his seat slapping his hand onto the wall, "BUT IT WAS MY FAULT! I was in the line of fire, and she jumped straight in front of it! She was the one who needed protecting not me!" through the commotion, Chancellor Sheppard and Professor Crowler had been called, so now they was stood listening.
"I understand that Miss Donovan is still currently an Agent of NSA, but don't you think it's rude to take her out of classes to cause this to happen?" Professor crowler spoke to Steve, which he just walked up grabbing the man by his trench coat. "Shut up, That's my best friend in there, She is better and smarter than you will ever be, she could pass your stupid class in her sleep Crowler. I-" just before he could say anything else, the door opened to see Vanessa there drying her hands with a towel. "Agent Donovan will be just fine, it's just a simple gun shot wound to the shoulder and leg, she will need to be off her feet for a few days but they was clean shots, nothing major was injured. Steve you got her here just in time."
The agent walked over to Vanessa with Relief on his face, "thank you Vanessa,"
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Inside the Infirmary, Claudia was laid with her leg slightly elevated on a pillow, as her right arm was strapped up in a sling. Zane had gave her his obelisk blue trench coat to cover her up so she didn't feel exposed. Looking to the side she saw her boyfriend and smiled, rubbing a hand over his face, "I'm sorry I worried you babes" shaking his head, he just took her hand and held it close to him.
"It's ok but I'd rather not feel like that again, I thought I lost you today the cyber dragons sent me a message that you was hurt and I instantly feared the worse, then when I saw Steve in the hallway covered in blood, I swore my heart stopped." She just did a lazy lop sided smile leaning her head back on the pillow "So did you get a good view of my jugs?"
Raising his eye brow he was confused, "My breasts, Boobs, Tits…you know that general area?" She used her left arm to motion around her chest, giving him a smirk. "very nice…" she shook her head slightly "Kinda small area I know but…" he silenced her with a kiss, before speaking again.
"that Tattoo on your chest….i've seen it before. Steve has the same identical tattoo, not many people would go for a metronome" Claudia sighed biting her lip leaning back into the pillow again, "It's…. memories I'd rather keep hidden, but at the time there was something big going down with the warehouse and a man named Walter Sykes, we all thought Jinksy got fired for pulling his gun on Mrs Fredrick, but it was all a cover, he was trying to get the Joans coin from me to give Helena her true memories back and that's when he told me….
He was working under cover to get information on what Walter Sykes was doing, and gave me the instructions to go to an airport hanger… And.." her eye's began to glisten over with tears, she couldn't finish the story but someone else could.
"Claudia found me Dead inside one of the hangers, I had been injected with a lethal poison, died instantly, Walter Sykes had got his body guard to kill me just before Claudia, Pete and Myka got there, I don't know much on what happened after that but they managed to finish Walter Sykes off and then Claudia used the Metronome to bring me back."
Zane looked up to see Steve explaining what had happened, the mans eye's was also glistened over, "We didn't know the downside of the Metronome at the time, but I soon figured out that whenever I was hurt, Claudia was also hurt too, it had physically connected us, I thought I could hid it until…. Claudia was possessed and almost stabbed Artie, I took the stab wound instead and that's when she found out. Feeling the pain… Artie sent us to Jersey and I was finally able to get us both off it, so we now have these matching tattoo's to show our bond."
Giving a slight nod, he now understood he looked back to the red head in the bed, her make up was running as tears fell out of her red eye's, "That's why I was so angry with Steve when I first came here….i didn't want to find him dead again, I still have fears that I'm going to find him in another hanger…. See the lifeless look in his eye's…. JINKSY!" the man leaned down and hugged his best friend, his little sister. "I'm so so sorry Claudia…this is all my fault…."
Zane just sat back watching the two friends cry their hearts out, the other GX students outside the infirmary watching the scene.
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2 days after the whole fiasco back inside the infirmary was soon over, Claudia was discharged but she was to only do light stuff, light walking, even though she had to use either Jaden or Zane as a crutch, sometimes Chazz Syrus was too small for that so he just carried her messenger bag, which complained about being too heavy.
So now they was currently sat in Professor Crowlers class, the Slifer Quo, with a pinch of Obelisk as Alexis was sat in front of Claudia, the red head leaned back on her seat holding her right arm in a sling, Her laptop out in front of her due to her not being left handed with a pen so she had to use the laptop to type down all her notes.
Even though that only worked to a slight extent, as she had fallen asleep a few times, in between classes Zane never left the girl alone, he was constantly helping her out when he wasn't doing student council president stuff. She could only wear vests at the moment too so most student's saw her shoulder bandaged up, sometimes a little bit of blood seeping through as it was still healing, her jeans though, since they was too tight on her leg, she had to cut the right one short as the bullet wound was just above her knee cap. So now she looked like an odd video game character.
"Hey NO! Sleeping through class! DONOVAN! ANSWER THIS EQUASION!" Shouted Professor crowler, opening her left eye she looked to the board, "That's a continue trap card grandma, means it can stay on the field at all times unless its destroyed by your opponents spell or trap card." She rolled her head backwards, before trying to head off to sleep.
For the last two nights, her mind had been plagued with nightmares, the first night was back when Claudia found Steve dead, but then they turned back to the shadow duellist upon the volcano, each and every time they was getting worse, when she woke up, she thought she could feel the pain still right inside her heart.
Suddenly she jumped in her seat when Thunder crashed the sky, causing her immense pain inside her leg, "Ugh…." The sounds of heavy rain hitting the window dampened her mood even more when her senses got wind again, "There is something not right in this school."
Her friends looked to her, "What do you mean Bro? it's just a little thunder storm, I know you hate them but…" it's not the thunder storm, it's something else…. I can sense something is about to happen here. An I can sense it's going to be extremely dangerous…."
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When the last bell rang, signifying that school was over, Zane was right outside Professor Banners classroom to pick up Claudia, he knew on how much she hated thunder storms, and was hoping to get her back to the dorms before it got even worse then what it currently was….if not then he would insist she stayed at the obelisk ones until it calmed down.
That was when a radio announcement reached his ears, "This is Chancellor Sheppard….could the following please report to my office…. Professor Banner, Professor Crowler, Zane Trusdale, Alexis Rhodes, Chazz Princton, Jaden Yuki…" and the last name made Zane's blood run cold, "And Claudia Donovan immediately please… this is urgent…"
Before he could even registar that students was moving out the classroom a groan escaped her lips, "The bald idiot knows I can't move much.." he turned around to see Claudia there leaning against Chazz, "Claudia… are you ok? You don't look so good.." she gave him a sarcastic look, "Just peachy… we heard the tanoid, care to help me over there?" Zane nodded going to her side and picked her up bridal side, making the girl blush as bright as her hair.
"Hey! Not this way!" the blue haired boy just gave a smirk, "It's the fastest way, Chazz, Jaden Alexis coming?" they all nodded and made their way to the Sheppards office.
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All 7 was stood in a row inside the Chancellor's office, watching the man he looked quite frightened but that's not what was bothering the future caretaker of warehouse 13, no it was something else that was currently in the office. Her eye's darted across the room, she could feel it calling to her, "Chancellor Sheppard, is there a reason why you called all 7 of us here?" asked Zane, he currently was supporting his girlfriend to stand, he knew she hadn't taken her medication yet and she was in quite a bit of pain.
"Yes Zane, there is you see, there is something that's going to happen soon, last night there was word that someone came to our island last night, you see this person isn't good, in fact they are the very opposite… and they are after what this school has been guarding for a very long time." He walked over to his desk leaning on it. He used his right hand to open the top draw pulling out a solid gold box, "What…is that?" Asked professor Banner, "This Professor, is what we use to keep what we guard Secret, now I want each one of you to take one and to protect this with your life…. I know I shouldn't get you student's involved but…"
Claudia shook her head, "You have no choice, it's cool with me after all I'm a Government agent, I take risks all the time as you can see…but …. That box…" her eye's suddenly went wide as Chancellor Sheppard opened it and showed them 7 keys on a necklace, "THAT'S THE ARTEFACT I'VE BEEN SENSING!" Donovan suddenly shouted, she let go of Zane hopping over slamming her hand on the desk.
"What are you doing with such dangerous things?" the Chancellor was taken back by the 19 year old, he had no idea what the girl was referring to by Artefact, "These are the Sacred keys, these are stored with me to be protected so evil cannot gain access to the great power we protect here at Duel Academy…. Long Ago when Seto Kaiba built this school, he also buried 3 extremely powerful cards, The sacred beast cards…"
Each of the 7 people that had been called looked to him, "So your saying that we have to protect these sacred beast cards? By wearing a dangerous artefact?" Jaden shrugged not understanding what his friend was saying and began to reach out for a key, but Claudia slapped his hand away, "No, you don't understand Jaden, each Artefact has a downside, and until I know what this downside is…."
"Don't sweat the details Bro, the Chancellor needs our help to protect the school, I'm willing to risk it." Claudia suddenly grabbed Jaden by the t-shirt, "It's that type of risk that got me injured a few days ago! LISTEN TO ME JADEN! I've been dealing with Artefacts for the past 3 years! I know how dangerous they can be….. some have even taken innocent lives!" she gritted her teeth, pain could clearly be seen in the girls eye's until Zane stepped forward, "so this is what you sensed when we returned here, so we are key keepers huh?"
Once Zane spoke them words, Claudia let go of Jaden's t-shirt, who quickly grabbed a key placing it around his neck, "Key keeper…. That's it…. Alright old man, I need to get in contact with my superiors to come and retrieve this Artefact in a few days…but for now we will play your little game…." She picked up her own key and placed it around her neck.
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Deep into the blackened night, lightning struck above the volcano of Duel Academy as each struck around, lightening up the area, a man wearing a mask and dark black trench coat could be seen, "I'm coming for you Key Keeper…. For your key…friends and soul!"
Clicking his fingers, the sky lit up again sending a slight shock through the ground, 10 minutes later, two teenagers appeared, being chained to the volcanic wall. "And now Key Keeper…. I just need you to show…"
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Sat with her back against a fancy headboard, Claudia held her laptop in between her legs, as Zane was stood next to her, as she typed away, holding her Farnsworth, "Are you absolutely sure they are the Sacred gate keys! They've been missing from Warehouse 2 for over 12 years Claudia…" Claudia turned her head towards the Farnsworth holding up the key around her neck, "I'm pretty sure old man, I could sense that they was an artefact as soon as Sheppard opened the box."
Soon the Farnsworth changed faces to that of Mrs Fredrick, "Now we know what Artefact your dream signified, lets just hope the rest of your vision doesn't come true Claudia because I have a feeling that it's not going to be good." Claudia nodded as she kept typing on her laptop, "Did you find anything on the shadow riders that Chancellor Sheppard mentioned?" asked Zane, and the African woman shook her head, "Not yet, but H.G Wells is looking into it, while we are looking into on the downside of them Keys, the use of them maybe stored in the restricted section of the warehouse."
They heard Artie in the back ground mumbling something about the restricted section, "Alright, please let us know as soon as possible, I'm getting a rather bad feeling about all this…. And with Claudia already being injured.."
Mrs Fredrick nodded, "I have sent Agent Lattimer and Agent Berings your way, Zane keep your mind open and your eyes sharp. They should reach duel academy within the next two hours….i've already notified Chancellor Sheppard about them coming" both teenagers nodded when Claudia suddenly stood up straight, "wait…something's not right…the key it's trying to tell me something…"
Zane looked down at the key on his girls neck, then his own, both was glowing but he couldn't tell what that meant, until Claudia's eye's shot open "Alexis and Syrus…There in trouble…"
"Agent Donovan! Wait there…" but Claudia reached up snapping the Farnsworth shut, she looked up to her boyfriend with stern eye's, "I have a feeling I know where they are… Zane, I'm going to give you a crash course in driving….we need to get to the top of Duel Volcano pronto"
He nodded, and helped her stand, both of them had duel disks ready, "Alright, this should be fun….but if I crash the Prius… it's not my fault." And with that both teenagers left Obelisk blue dorms.
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Oooooh stuffs going down now! What's going to happen!
Who's this shadow rider that's taken their friends!
How did Claudia know where they were?
Curedream90 And ArticDragonslayer over and out!